Students irked as GDC Pulwama brazenly modifies admission rules

PULWAMA — Students in the southern Kashmir’s Pulwama township are enraged after the Government Degree College (Boys) Pulwama brazenly changed its admission rules in a matter of days.

An aggrieved group of students said that the college administration has changed the admission rules for UG 1st Semester in a matter of days, causing hardships to the local students aspiring to take admission in the college.

Ishfaq Ahmad, a student waiting for his turn to submit the ‘stream selection’ form in the college, said that the college authorities are asking them to submit the forms while telling them that they will receive a phone call only if a vacant seat was available. “What kind of a joke is this? They can deny the admission if they don’t have any intake capacity. By accepting the forms and telling us to wait for a phone call is outrageous,” the visibly outraged student said.

Pertinently, the college was accepting these ‘stream selection’ forms without any such conditions just some couple of days ago. However, the rules have been changed, which puts the students of Pulwama township at disadvantage.

Irshad Ahmad, a student from Rajpora, managed to get admission in the college even when the area has a government college in its vicinity while Ishfaq, a student from Pulwama town, was told to wait for a phone call. “There should have been some thinking about this. By denying me admission in the stream of my choice, the college expects me to get admission in a far-off college,” Ishfaq said.

This is not all! There was a invisible rule of first-come, first serve basis just some days ago but the college is now asking the students to consider their previous-year (Class 12th) marks percentage before applying.

Shahid Saleem (name changed), another student from a village on the outskirts of Pulwama town, lamented that the last date for admissions in the college is April 15, but the college brought in the marks percentage rule suddenly to hamper his chances of being admitted in the college. “One of my friends managed to get admission on 46 percent marks in his Class 12th, but I was told to wait even when I have 63 percent marks,” the student revealed.

Even some days ago, students were sending SOSes after being refused admission in Education and Sociology disciplines at the same college, while they were asked to apply in other colleges for the same subjects.

When asked about the changed rules, the college Principal Farooq Ahmad cited a recent order from J&K Higher Education Department out of context. The order specified admission intake capacity for the college and not the rules of admission.

The same was confirmed by Under Secretary in J&K Higher Education Department, Mr. Shabir Ahmad Baba, who was the officer to have issued the intake capacity orders. “The orders specifying intake capacity for various colleges is part of a rationalization process, whereby new degree colleges can also have adequate staff and enrolled students. However, we have not notified any such admission rules, which are decided by the colleges themselves,” the Under Secretary said.

Asked if the rules can be changed in such a brazen manner, the officer said he will look into it after receiving grievance from the affected lot of students.